Bodhi College Conversation Series - Spring 2026

Price options per session:

1. Standard rate: £25

2. Supporter rate:£35 (to be ticked and added on the registration form)

3. Supported rate per session: If you are unable to afford the our standard course rate, please contact us here. We will make sure that no one is turned away because of lack of funds

Theme:

The Bodhi College Conversation Series is dedicated to the cultural translation of the Dharma into our present-day lives.

For this series of online conversations, our teachers have turned to people who interest them personally. People whose work, experience or reflections they’d like to get to know better - people who they would like to know more from, discuss with, understand better. 

From writers to nuns to philosophers, we will be joining together to converse with people from all walks of life and backgrounds, including art, literature, Buddhist studies, philosophy and psychotherapy.  

In these specially curated one-on-one conversations, our teachers will ask the questions that they would like to explore – as teachers, but also as ordinary people, living their own lives - discussing topics that overlap with Buddhist themes and values. 

Part lecture, part fire-side chat, our teacher will introduce the guest speaker and invite them to make a presentation, followed by questions from both the host and the audience.

We’ll be exploring the learning and understanding that come from different fields of knowledge that often don’t reach the meditation hall. Building bridges between different fields of Buddhist practice and studies, and with other disciplines that have relevance to how we view forms of Buddhism and its practices. 

There is truly something here to interest everyone, in these carefully selected, one-off conversations. 

Each conversation in the series will be completely self-contained, and you can join as many sessions as you would like to. 

 

Schedule & Topics: 

The series is ongoing. For now we have opened registrations for dates until Spring 2026. We will open registrations for the rest of 2026 once available. Please note that each conversation will be held on different days at different times to suit the availability of the guest speaker. 

Please make sure to tick all the sessions you would like to attend when you register, it will not be possible to amend your booking once processed, unless you use a different email address. 

Please note that from 29th March 2026 the UK will change from GMT to BST. For time zone conversions to your local time, please feel free to use this link. 

Dates/Topics/Speakers: 

Please note that all sessions will be 2 hours long. 

10 January 4-6pm GMT: The Dharma as a Wake-Up Call Amid Intractable Conflict with Stephen Fulder, hosted by Christina Feldman 

We are faced with ever more challenging daily life situations. There is growing conflict and insecurity at the personal, political, social and planetary levels. We are sensitive souls and can easily feel overwhelmed and sometimes helpless. Yet it can be our wake-up call. Dharma can be important in helping us to make sense of what is happening as well as developing capacities of equanimity, well-being and steadiness. It can reveal some deeper sources of compassion and empowerment that help us to go out and make a difference. In this conversation, Stephen will be bringing some of his experiences and reflections after 30 years as a leading dharma teacher in the Middle East and extensive engagement with Palestinians and Israelis in the thick of intractable violence and conflict.

26 February 5-7pm GMT: On the composition of the early Buddhist discourses with Eviatar Shulman, hosted by Bernat Font

TBA

28 March 4-6pm GMT: I hear her words: A Conversation on Women in Buddhism with Alice Collett, hosted by Martine Batchelor. 

Published in 2021, one of Alice Collett’s most recent books, I Hear Her Words: An Introduction to Women in Buddhism, is a thorough, comprehensive and well researched guide to the history and agency of women in Buddhism. In this conversation, we will travel widely through time and space, discovering awakened and well-practised women of the ancient world, and coming to the present day. Alice Collett will bring to our attention inspiring quotes – often the words of women themselves - demonstrating the depth of insight of Buddhist women throughout time.

11 April 4-6pm BST: The Buddha's First Impact in the West with Sean Williams, hosted by Stephen Batchelor

Many people have looked at the parallels between Buddhism and Greek philosophy, not least Stephen Batchelor in his new book Buddha Socrates and Us. Sean will discuss his research into how this influence may have first come about, through the Greek philosopher Pyrrho. He will make the case for a direct line of transmission of ideas from the Buddha to Pyrrho, who accompanied Alexander the Great to the Indian sub-continent and spent about 18 months with an Indian ascetic, Calanus, who was a Buddhist only two generations after the Buddha himself. Sean will show that what Pyrrho himself taught in Greece is very similar to the earliest Buddhist suttas.

8 May 6-8pm BST: Vedana and the Deepening of Mindfulness with Mark Williams, hosted by John Peacock

TBA

Suitability:

Open to all - new and experienced practitioners alike.

Recordings:

This series will be recorded.

Cost:

• The price includes a fee for the teachers, no additional dana will be requested. 

Teachers: 

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